Week 24, 26.9 – 2.10

Tuesday afternoon (29.9) I spontaneously decided take a day off for a longer weekend. Together with M. we went to Tabriz although the week after final exams would take place. However we took the night bus, so I with a huge lack of sleep I arrived.
After having slept till late morning, M.’s friend Azad showed us the city. In the evening we went out eating, smoked narghile (water pipe) and walked a little bit around. Since it gets dark very soon and Tabriz is in the north near mountains, it was kind of chilly so we went to bed early.
The next day Azad drove with us to Kandovan, the Iranian Cappadocia. But in comparison with the famous Turkish cliff dwellings, the Iranian ones are still inhabited. Of course every house has electricity, water and gas, but unfortunately the Iranians don’t seem to care about preserving the old architecture style when building new houses. Therefore of the old charm, that is still present in Cappadocia – mainly because it’s inhabitant -, decreased.
When we came back to Tabriz in the evening, we walked along the street that the youths of Tabriz use for “dordor”. It means something like “to cruise”. The Iranians mostly together with some friends, drive up and down a certain street in their cars – the more expensive the better. When they see interesting Iranians of the opposite sex they drive slower, exchange number through the open window or wait at the side. Sometimes they just change the passenger seats after a few seconds and drive home. While we were promenading there were only a few women, the majority were men, so many of them most certainly drove home alone, sad and disappointed. We on the other side didn’t return home in that mood.
Friday noon we went back to Tehran.

Week 25, 3.10 – 9.10

It was the week of the exam so I learned a bit more than usual. But even three hours after having finished on Wednesday (7.10), we didn’t get the final result. The others had it maximum after 90 minutes.
On Friday (9.10) my parents came to Iran for a 10 day journey, so I didn’t start travelling right now. Anyway I didn’t even know where to go, because I wanted to travel with M. who didn’t have a big time frame since she was always on the go for her German visa. So I bought my parents some SIM and metro cards and meet M. in the evening.
My parents arrived a bit tired and I went with them in the nearby park. I also decided to come with them the next day to their first city which was Esfahan.